


Luna Lovegood and the Year of the Rabbit

by StolenSerenity



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Autistic Character, Autistic Luna Lovegood, Disabled Character, F/F, Ginny will fight you, Hogwarts, Jewish Character, Luna has a rabbit named Rowan, Original Character(s), Rabbits, a decent amount of OCs - Freeform, lots of ravenclaw nerdiness, mainly because Harry was too busy crashing a car to be there for the sorting, meltdowns, she will fight anyone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-28 02:37:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 13,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13894431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StolenSerenity/pseuds/StolenSerenity
Summary: Luna's always been a little bit different - she's always known that - but when she finally goes to Hogwarts, her rabbit cradled in her arms and a promise in her heart, she learns that she might be a lot more odd than she thought - and that that's not even close to being a bad thing.





	1. Chapter One - A Rabbit and a Wand

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been absolutely blessed by some amazing readers. The art belongs to Jumbledmumble, who I'm super grateful and amazed that they did this amazing art - thank you!! And without further ado, the story!

" alt=" Luna Lovegood holding a rabbit. Rainbow letters read Luna Lovegood and the Year of the Rabbit, and there is a neurodivergence symbol in the corner." />

Luna clung to her dad’s hand as they made their way through the Leaky Cauldron and into Diagon Alley. It wasn’t that she hadn’t been there before, it was just that it was busier than usual, and busy meant more people, and more noises, and it was just… well, it was a lot. She almost reached for her glasses, the special ones that muted the noise and made it easier to handle everything, but she knew there’d be new classmates and she didn’t want to seem, well, weird. At least, weirder than she already knew she was. So she squeezed Xenophilius’s hand three times in quick succession, their signal to let him know that she was starting to feel overwhelmed. He feigned interest in a quiet shop, and entered. Luna took a few deep breaths, steadying herself, and then looked around. It was a stationary shop, filled with quills of varying colours and rolls and rolls of parchment. It smelled nice in here, cosy in a way she associated with libraries and her room, and she began to wander.

She drifted to a set of quills in the corner, with a sign that was beautifully penned “Allura’s Quills: Available in Three Styles: Glitter, Colour-changing, and Lights Up!” There was a helpful piece of parchment on one side, and Luna grabbed the first, a quill whose feathered end seemed to sparkle like stars. It left more stars as she wrote her first name, and she smiled gently. She picked up the next, and it changed from red to pink to purple to blue in a beautiful rainbow. She tried the Lights Up one, but found it too bright. She picked up two each of the glitter and colour-changing quills, took a few of the quills she actually needed to buy, and several rolls of parchment – she’d always needed more space to write things, ever since she was little, and then presented them soundlessly to Xenophilius. He smiled, asking, “Is it a quiet day?” She nodded. Sometimes, when things were overwhelming, she’d simply stop wasting energy trying to communicate verbally, relying on a handful of gestures, some sign language she’d picked up from her mother before she’d died, and writing things down as a last resort. Luckily for her, Xenophilius seemed to get it.

They walked, hand in hand, through the stores, and once they’d bought everything they needed, Luna dragged Xenophilius to the door of the animal emporium. She readied herself for the noise and walked in, pulling her dad behind her.

The shopkeeper, Terrence, saw her and smiled immediately, beckoning her over. “Luna! I was wondering when you’d come in. The kneazles have been missing you.” Luna grinned brightly, and made her way immediately to the pen, where several catlike animals were playing. She let herself in and the kneazles fairly swarmed her, all begging for pets and attention, which she happily gave them, cooing in delight and making sure each one received attention. Finally, her dad beckoned, and she reluctantly said her goodbyes. Before she could leave though, Terrence spoke up again. “Um, Xenophilius, Luna… I actually had, er, something of a favour to ask you.” Luna perked up, and Xenophilius looked intrigued. “What do you need?”

Terrence scuffed his foot on the ground, and then knelt down and brought out a tiny rabbit, dark brown with flecks of white on her ears and nose. “This is Rowan. My sister’s rabbit had a litter, and Rowan’s the littlest and we didn’t have room anyway, and I thought, since you’re so good with all the animals, if you’d like to keep her? Don’t worry, rabbits are allowed at Hogwarts – my sister had three she always brought with her to school. She won’t grow much bigger – Rowan, I mean, not my sister. Mini lops only grow to about two or three pounds, tops. So, um, please?” He asked, putting thhe rabbit down on the table, more like a peace offering than anything else.

Luna, whose smile had grown larger by the second, reached out to pet the creature, who sniffed her and then nuzzled her hand. She squeaked in delight, and turned, eyes pleading, to Xenophilius.

“You’d have to feed her at school, and make sure she wasn’t too bored or would get lost,” Xenophilius said, more out of parental obligation than anything – he was already reaching for his coin pouch.

Terrence saw his hand and immediately shook his head. “Oh, no, no cost, sir. Thank you, both of you. Here, I’ll get her carrier and I’ve also got a list of what you’ll need to ask the house-elves for – if you can’t find one, I’m sure a perfect would help you out – and about a week of food, that should last you until the 4th – plenty of time to get you settled at Hogwarts. Thank you again!”

They soon left the store, Xenophilius hovering the bags behind him, Luna cradling the small rabbit and petting her soft fur. They made their way to their final stop – Ollivander’s wand shop. It was quiet and dark in the shop, and Luna relaxed, combing her fingers through Rowan’s fur.

An old, old man approached her, watery eyes searching. “Ah yes, Miss Lovegood,” he murmured.

“Mr. Ollivander,” Luna answered softly, eyes still on the rabbit rather than his eyes. After some cursory measurements, he started to pull down boxes in his seemingly endless back room.

“Here, try this. Oak, dragon heartstring, 12 ½, fairly stiff.” Luna hesitantly took the wand, but Ollivander almost immediately snatched it back and grabbed another one. “Pine, phoenix feather, 12”, quite whippy.” A spark flew, and Ollivander shook his head but smiled, disappearing and grabbing another box. “I have a good feeling about this one – chestnut, unicorn hair, 13”, nice and flexible.”

He held the wand out to her, and Luna took it. Immediately, warmth filled her. Xenophilius smiled and encouraged her to wave it. She did, and a small stream of sparkles and bubbles streamed out the tip. Rowan stretched her nose out to see them better, only to squeak and burrow herself further into Luna’s arm when a bubble popped on her nose. Ollivander chuckled. “That’ll be seven galleons, sir.” Xenophilius smiled his thanks as they paid, and they left the shop, and then the Alley, popping into their home.

Luna immediately rushed to her room to unpack and play with Rowan, Xenophilius smiling fondly after.


	2. Chapter 2 - A Redhead, a Blonde, a Brunette, and a Rabbit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, and happy International Women's Day! Thank you so much for the warm reception of this fic - I treasure each comment, kudos, and view. Without further ado, here's chapter 2! (hey look, that rhymed!)

At home, Luna ran from end to end, hair in disarray, trying to make sure everything was packed and ready and that she hadn’t forgotten anything – she knew everything was fine, she’d gone over every item with Rowan, showing the little rabbit her new books and her collection of stationary as she fed her a tiny carrot – but she couldn’t help but be nervous.  
After her third lap of the house, Xenophilius simply called her over and laid a hand on her shoulder. “You’re attracting wrackspurts, darling.”

Luna blushed. “Sorry, Dad.” She’d never been good at identifying emotions, never really understanding what it really meant, in specifics, to be ‘sad’ or ‘mad’ or ‘happy,’ so her mother had helped her create something of a code, based off of the obscure creatures that her father loved to research. She reached up and patted Rowan, who was comfortably nestled in her scarf. Slowly, she started to calm down.

“Alright Luna, we need to go to the station now.”

Luna nodded, and the two made their way outside to the rarely-used vehicle in the street. They stored her trunk and bookbag in the boot and made the drive to King’s Cross, Luna settled comfortably in the back, stroking Rowan’s head in an attempt to remain calm.   
When they arrived, Xenophilius carefully took his daughter’s hand and guided her to the right area, and then demonstrated how to get to the platform. Luna shut her eyes and ran, almost crashing into her father before she managed to stop. The platform was incredibly crowded and loud, with yelling children and screaming infants and just too many people and Luna felt herself shutting down. 

This happened sometimes when things became too much and there were too many inputs and she just couldn’t focus. Xenophilius saw the tell-tale widening of her eyes before he felt her pulse go up and her body stiffen. He led her away as quickly as he could, trying to find a quiet spot for her to decompress, but there was little to do.  
He let go of her when she fell to the ground near one of the walls, drawing her knees up and beginning to rock slowly back and forth, hands clamped firmly over her ears and eyes squeezed shut. He watched her, standing guard to anyone who so much as looked at her sideways. 

Usually, the protocol was to cast several layers of protective magic – a silencing charm, a shield around her, anything they could do to minimize the stimuli – but it just wasn’t possible to do so here, in this crowded place. 

The minutes seemed infuriatingly long, but eventually, Luna uncurled herself, taking deep breaths and holding her rabbit as though life depended on it. Xenophilius began to wonder if it was the rabbit that had allowed her to come out of a meltdown so soon. 

They made their way to the train, and Xenophilius gave his daughter one final hug before seeing her climb the steps and disappear into the train.

-  
The train wasn’t as bad as the platform, and Luna slowly began to relax. Rowan nestled herself back into Luna’s scarf, providing a soothing weight and warmth. She wandered the hallway, wondering where to sit. Most of the compartments looked full already – they’d arrived early, but her meltdown had taken away that advantage. Finally, though, she managed to find an empty compartment, and stowed her trunk under her seat and took out one of her books on various magical creatures, whispering it allowed for Rowan’s benefit.

She looked up from her reading a few minutes later when a knock sounded at the door and a soft voice asked, “Excuse me, do you have room for one more?” The voice came from a girl with long black hair braided over her shoulder. Luna nodded and opened the door, and the girl wheeled herself in, backing against the wall. With a sigh, she added, “They really need to make this train more accessible – they actually had to levitate my chair to get me on the train!”

Luna giggled. “That’s silly, they should just have a ramp.”

“I know, right? I’m Helen – what’s your name?” she asked, extending a hand to shake. 

Luna gingerly took it. “I’m Luna. It’s nice to meet you,” she added after a moment and then withdrew. The train started to move, and the two looked outside. Luna located her father and waved brightly, and he smiled and waved back. Soon though, they emerged into the open air and the train station fell away to reveal green fields. Helen had a book too, and they descended into a comfortable silence.

After about an hour or so, two girls slid the compartment open. A girl with bushy hair asked, voice tight with what seemed like panic, “Have either of you seen Harry Potter?”   
The ginger beside her added, “Or Ron Weasley? He’s like, really tall, and bright red hair like mine.” 

Luna shook her head as Helen said, “No, sorry.”

The bushy-haired girl sighed. “Alright then. Listen, Ginny, it won’t do you any good to go following me around. Why don’t you stay with these two?”

The ginger – Ginny – sighed. “Fine.” She flounced onto a chair as the other girl left. “Sorry guys, apparently I’ve been grounded. That’s Hermione, by the way. She’s all in a tizzy because my brother and his best friend are missing from the train – I told her it’ll be fine. It’s not like Dumbledore would just lose two students. I’m Ginny.”

Luna blinked, trying to process everything, but after a few seconds answered, “I’m Luna.”

Helen smiled. “And I’m Helen. Anyway, does anyone know if transfiguration is even a word in the English language? Because I actually have no clue.”

And with that, they were talking and laughing, and later cooing over Rowan who had woken up from her nap and had peeked her little nose out from under Luna’s scarf. When the trolley lady came by with snacks, Helen asked, “Are wizarding sweets kosher?” Ginny looked at her in confusion, but the trolley witch simply sighed. “I’m sorry, we only really have these,” she said, handing her a small bin of Bertie Botts’ Every Flavour Beans. 

Helen nodded, her smile falling slightly and took two bags and passed some coins over, as Ginny bought some other treats and Luna took a single bag of Bertie Botts’ beans, which she subtly dropped into Helen’s bag when she wasn’t looking.

Luna shook her head but retreated to her seat while Ginny asked what ‘kosher’ meant.

“You see, I’m Jewish, and there are some things we can’t eat because it’s not allowed in my religion.”

Ginny looked doubtful but nodded. “Alright, so sort of like you’re allergic, but only religiously?”

Helen hid a laugh. “Sort of. It’s… close enough, I guess. I suppose there aren’t a lot of religious people in the wizarding world?”

Ginny shook her head. “Not really. There are some… usually muggle-borns or half-bloods, but not a lot.”

“Oh,” Helen answered, sounding almost disappointed. “So, I’m guessing there’s not a synagogue or even any religious space?” 

“I… I don’t actually know. Maybe ask a prefect, or a professor or something?” Ginny answered, seeming vaguely uncomfortable, but then brightened. “Or we could start a club! Or even – my brothers, well, two of them anyway, they told me about this room called the Room of Requirement? Apparently, it’s really hard to find, but when you do find it, it’ll transform into any kind of room you need. That could work!”

Luna’s eyes sparkled. “And my father likes to keep tabs on the new Ravenclaws, and I remember last year he mentioned that there was someone – Anthony Goldstein, I think his name was? – who was Jewish. Maybe you could find him?”

Helen smiled. “Yeah! Thank you, you two. Also – what’s a Ravenclaw?”

Ginny immediately started explaining about Gryffindor and how it was her family house, and then Luna took over and talked about Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and then Ginny interrupted to talk about Slytherin. 

“It’s not all bad though,” Luna added when Ginny paused for breath. “Some truly great witches and wizards have come through there, and I’ve heard they have the best view of the lake in their common room.”

Helen nodded. “They all sound lovely, in their own ways. I suppose I’ll see. How do they choose?”

They kept talking until the train arrived, and someone – a prefect, Luna guessed – told them to leave their trunks and bags and look for the very tall person near the boats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? Review? Tell me how you felt! See y'all next time!


	3. The Sorting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the support!! Without you, this story wouldn't be happening. Enjoy!

“Firs’ years, firs’ years over here!” The three girls followed the sound of the voice, and it wasn’t long before they looked up and saw a very tall – if very friendly – man who was calling them over. “Hello, I’m Hagrid. Now we want you all to pile into the boats, only four per boat, understand?”

Helen looked at the boats, then to Hagrid, and back again. “Um,” she whispered. “I don’t suppose there’s another way to get there?” 

Ginny shrugged. “I don’t think so. Can we like, lift you into the boat and just bring your chair with us?” 

“That should – yeah actually that could work,” Helen answered after a moment. “Just like, be gentle? Sometimes it hurts if I get bumped the wrong way.” 

Ginny nodded. “Okay, that’s not a problem. Luna, can you get the chair?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, on the count of three, I’ll lift you and put you in the boat, and Luna will take the chair and it’ll be like a fourth passenger or something. Ready?” Everyone nodded, and on three, they managed to get into the boat without major problems. Luna couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The boat ride was quiet until a student fell overboard. Luna watched the situation, tapping her fingers anxiously together until she saw a single long tentacle reach up, holding the boy. Helen screamed and Luna and Ginny both gasped, but the tentacle simply plopped the boy back into the boat as though nothing had happened.

“Don’ worry, it’s just the squid,” Hagrid called out to the first years, which didn’t seem to help the situation much. Luna counted at least three boats that nearly keeled over as a group tried to see the squid over the side, and Helen and a few others looked ready to throw their hands over the side and run home (not that they could, Luna absently realized, given that their wands, along with the rest of their supplies, had been left on the train). 

The squid was soon forgotten, however, as Hogwarts came into view. It shone against the dark sky, lights coming from seemingly every window. It looked like a castle. “It’s beautiful,” she murmured. The other two nodded, seemingly at a loss for words. 

Eventually, they reached the docks, and the three of them somehow managed to finagle Helen back into her chair on dry land. They walked a short way to the school proper and were met by a stern-looking woman with dark green robes. “Good evening and welcome to Hogwarts. I am Professor McGonagall. The Sorting will take place in a moment, and you will be sorted into one of four houses – Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, or Ravenclaw.” She went on to talk about the house point system and then left them, presumably to go let the rest of the school know that the first years had arrived. 

After a few moments of tense silence, Professor McGonagall returns and beckons them through a door. They emerge in a large room dominated by four huge tables. Luna looks up to see a beautiful night sky, and she recognizes some constellations from outside. It only takes a moment before she realizes that it’s actually a mirror of the outside, and then she’s tapping Ginny on the shoulder and gesturing excitedly at the sky. She belatedly realizes she’s gone non-verbal, and the words aren’t coming to her, but Ginny seems to get the point. 

“It’s a mirror of the outside – at least, that’s what Ron said Hermione said. Speaking of, he’s not here yet. Harry’s not either, I hope he’s okay.” Her voice takes on a hint of worry, but she doesn’t seem as anxious as Hermione does – she’s sitting between two empty seats, drumming her fingers on the table and craning her neck to see if the two boys are anywhere. The only boys with bright red hair like Ginny’s are clearly several years older, so Luna just shrugs. 

They stop talking as Professor McGonagall takes a hat – the Sorting Hat – and places it on a stool. It begins to sing, and everyone falls silent.

Luna’s too distracted looking at the sky and trying to find familiar faces in the tables to really process the song, and by the time she does, “Creevey, Colin” is being called already. Luna gives Helen’s shoulder a squeeze when “Feinberg, Helen” is called, and then Helen rolls up to the steps. Professor McGonagall puts the hat on her head and a few moments of silence arise before “RAVENCLAW!” The table on the far right erupts into applause and a few students slide to the side as an older student raises his wand and somehow removes a part of the table as a place for her to sit. 

As Helen rolls into the seat, the older student leans over and tells her something that makes her smile and nod enthusiastically, and Luna already knows it’s a good fit for her friend. Before she knows it, she’s being called up herself, and she’s clutching Rowan and trying to calm down, and she makes the journey to the front, encouraged by a thumbs-up from Helen, a short hug from Ginny (which she somehow doesn’t mind, even though she often has trouble with touching people she’s just met), and a gentle squeak from Rowan, who seems to understand just how nervous she is. 

Professor McGonagall puts the hat on her head, and immediately, she hears a voice in her head. “You’re a clever one, aren’t you?”

“I mean, I’d like to think so,” Luna answers, as candidly as she can. “But I know I have a lot to learn still.” 

The hat chuckles. “Then I think you’ll be a perfect fit for-“ It shouts the last word “RAVENCLAW!” 

A table in blue and bronze robes erupts in applause, and she sits down just in time for “MacDougal, Isabelle” is proclaimed to be a Ravenclaw as well. She sits down beside Luna and stretches out her hand. “I’m Isabelle,” she says.

Luna shakes her hand with a smile. “Luna.” Rowan wriggles her way out of Luna’s scarf, and she smiles and adds, “And that’s Rowan, my rabbit.”

A few others join their table, but Luna stays as quiet as possible, avoiding eye contact – it makes her uncomfortable anyway, especially when she’s stressed – and barely pays attention, only managing to clap and smile when Ginny is proclaimed a Gryffindor (no surprises there). 

Headmaster Dumbledore says a few nonsense words, which an older student told them is just tradition and a way to endear himself to the students and make himself seem less intimidating, and then the feast begins. Luna immediately reaches for her favourites: soup, some bread, a small thing of mashed potatoes, and a large glass of milk. She grabs a couple raw carrots for Rowan, and carefully chops them up and feeds them to her, eliciting squeals from several of the girls and soft smiles from a few boys. One of them – Roger, if she remembers correctly – asks if he can feed the bunny a few pieces. Luna agrees, and soon Rowan is being fed by everyone up and down the table, receiving pets and love and looking about as happy as a rabbit can be.

Slowly, Luna manages to get into the conversation with the help of Rowan being an easy conversation starter. And when someone mentions Care of Magical Creatures, Luna immediately launches into a long ramble about it, given that it’s one of her special interests, and everyone actually seems interested and some ask questions, and she feels as though she’s finally landed in the place she was always meant to be. When they’ve all finished eating (saving room since the older students told them that dessert would be coming shortly, and no one wants to miss it), dessert appears. 

Luna takes seconds – and later, thirds – of pudding. Isabelle, beside her, suggests putting in a scoop of ice cream in the pudding. It’s absolutely heavenly, and Luna thanks her by taking a chocolate éclair, dipping it in the mixture, and handing it to Isabelle, who fairly melts in delight at the taste.

Eventually, though, the food disappears, the Headmaster makes a few comments about banned items – she notices the twin redheads (likely Weasleys, given that they’re sitting right beside Ginny) look especially upset at the ban of Fizzing Whizzbees – and then they’re dismissed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you think! Coming up next - will Rowan get more carrots? How many books can a Ravenclaw read in 48 hours? And when will Hogwarts get itself some ramps?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! My school blocked AO3 on its wifi for some reason, and I'm always busy when I'm home, so I had trouble getting time to post this chapter. Hopefully, this won't happen too too frequently. Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 4

A pair of students who have shiny badges marking them as prefects stand and call the Ravenclaw students together. A taller student with a badge marking him as Head Boy smiles at them like a proud parent and walks towards the back of the group, where Luna, Helen, Roger, and Isabelle are all talking animatedly about the comparative cuteness of kneazles and nifflers (currently, kneazles are winning the debate). 

“Hello, we’ll be taking you to the common room shortly.” He pauses and then looks to Helen. “May I spell your chair? The Ravenclaw common room is in one of the towers, and unfortunately, since electronics don’t work in Hogwarts, we haven’t been able to create an elevator.”

Helen smiles and nods. “Thank you for asking permission – it was so weird when my chair just randomly started floating on the train and I nearly freaked out big time.”

The boy smiles. “My brother – he’s not magical, but he’s almost top of his class at Eton and I’m jealous – he has CP. He always hated when my parents had to pick him up for some reason. I’m Ethan, by the way.”

“I’m Helen.” Helen smiles as Ethan waves his wand, muttering a few words. The chair begins to rise smoothly off the floor.

“Okay, so I’ll just be walking with you to make sure that the charm keeps working. It should just stay a couple centimetres off the floor if that’s alright? You won’t have to rely on your fellows for long, though, it’s one of the first charms you learn in Professor Flitwick’s class.”

They make it up to the tower, where one of the prefects is demonstrating how to open the door. “So, it asks a riddle or a question of some sort, and you have to answer it. If you’re correct, or you give a logical conclusion, or whatever else it deems as a good answer, it opens the door. It’s pretty straightforward most of the time, but other times it’s a bit harder, so you have to stay on your toes. Worst case scenario, eventually someone will leave and let you in, or someone else will answer the question. So, let’s try! Any volunteer to use the knocker?”

Roger puts his hand up eagerly, followed by a few, more hesitant hands. The prefect waves Roger over. He has to stand on his toes to reach the knocker, and he’s only able to knock twice before he loses his balance. He turns bright red, but the eagle in the knocker interrupts the giggling. “What comes before the fall?” 

A variety of voices speak up, everything from pride to a banana peel. Everyone manages a laugh at that, and the door swings open for them all. Luna walks inside and almost forgets the crowd. The common room is beautiful. It’s wide and open, with several (surprisingly well-organized) bookshelves dotting the walls. In an alcove sits a statue of a woman that Luna guesses are Rowena Ravenclaw, and that guess is confirmed when she notices the replica of the diadem on her head. She looks up, and the ceiling is covered in stars. They look painted but still glimmer occasionally. 

Rowan pokes her head out and Luna picks her up and cradles her, walking slowly around and trying to take in everything. 

“Alright first years, your dorms are just behind Rowena’s statue. First years have the ground floor, and then you’ll move up a floor until you have the seventh floor in your seventh year. Everyone says that floor has the most beautiful views, so it’s something to look forward to. Alright, we just need to distribute your schedules for the first term, and then you’re good to go!”

They start calling names – there’s not a lot of first years Luna realizes as the older kids disperse, maybe about six total – and Luna receives her schedule. 

“They’re charmed to be impervious to water and tearing, so don’t worry about that. Good luck everyone – feel free to come to me, Samantha, Ethan, or anyone else if you have any questions. I promise we don’t bite.” And with that, the prefect is gone. 

Luna wanders into her dormitory and smiles – her suitcase has been laid on the bed already, but more importantly, somehow Rowan’s enclosure has already been set up near the window, where it’s likely to be nicely warm and bright in the daytime. Luna sets her down in the enclosure and wanders to her trunk to start unpacking. She finds Rowan’s food and sets down half a bowl – only half because Rowan’s mostly stuffed herself on treats – and then changes for bed. 

-

She’s woken the next day by the female prefect – Samantha, she’s pretty sure – knocking on the door and reminding them to get dressed and ready for the first day. It’s a hectic few minutes of finding their robes – which have somehow to changed to be embroidered with blue and bronze – and finding textbooks and quills and parchment, but eventually, Helen leads the charge out of the room. 

Isabelle’s in charge of directions and guides them towards transfiguration, which they’ll have with the Hufflepuffs, apparently. The first problem is reached, however, when they hit the stairs and realize they don’t have a person who can do the flying charm nearby. 

Luna and Helen exchange looks, but before they can do anything, the stairs seem to flutter and shift before turning into a single platform. At a loss, the three make their way onto the platform, and it lowers them down to the first floor. “I wish they’d told us this before,” Helen mutters before she rolls right, following Isabelle’s somewhat frantic directions.  
Given that they wind up being about fifteen minutes early, they really shouldn’t have worried. Luna is intrigued when Professor McGonagall arrives, but it’s nothing compared to Isabelle’s wide-eyed adoration. Even though they don’t get to do anything practical, Isabelle’s halfway through the first homework assignment before they’ve even hit lunch class.   
They all wind up having different specialities – Luna finds that she’s actually quite decent at Herbology, she finds, and Helen is the first to cast Wingardium Leviosa successfully, prompting proud and cheery applause from Professor Flitwick.

Roger, who wanders over to the girls at lunch, hoping to pet Rowan, suggests that the four of them pair up for double potions that afternoon. They agree, and Luna winds up beside Roger, preparing for what – from what she’s heard – will undoubtedly be an interesting class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you thought! I'd love to hear any feedback you have :)


	5. Potions and the Union

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the feedback!! Writer's block hit me hard, but I've got a fresh wave of inspiration so stay posted for new chapters coming your way!

Chapter 5

Professor Snape strides in without a word and simply stands in front of the cluster of students, watching their faces turn from simple apprehension to fear, noting with a hidden satisfaction that a few Ravenclaws, and even one Hufflepuff – who, he notes, is sitting in an odd contraption with wheels instead of the chairs that are provided. 

“You. That chair is a potential hazard in this environment – imagine if someone mixed up a potion and it corroded! Then where would you be?” He asks, stalking towards her with precision. The girl doesn’t answer. “Just because you are too lazy to walk, does not mean I will accommodate your every whim! Get up, girl!”

The three people she’s sitting with all look up at him with mixtures of fear and apprehension in their faces, but the girl herself is staring back at him with stone-faced resilience.  
“What’s your name?” Professor Snape asks, lowering his voice to his most deadly whisper.

“Helen Feinberg, sir,” she responds. 

“Well, Helen, get up!” he snaps. 

When she makes no move to get up, Professor Snape whips out his wand and performs a wordless Wingardium Leviosa. It’s a bit overkill, but he wants to make sure that people realize that any goofing off or causing hazards cannot and will not be tolerated in his classroom. It could get them killed!

He doesn’t expect it when the girl collapses to the floor. She lifts herself up with one palm and looks at him, not with fear or rebellion, but with pure hatred. She spits out words in a low voice, but in the dead-silence of the classroom, she’s heard clearly by everyone.

“I was paralyzed in a car accident when I was six. I haven’t walked in five years. I highly doubt I can do so now.” She turns away from him. “Roger, Luna, can you help me back onto my wheelchair?” The two people adjacent to her immediately pick her up and place her back in the chair. Snape turns away before people can see the faint glimmer of shame in his eyes.

He’d read the memo about the student who was paralyzed but had assumed Madam Pomfrey would deal with it. He certainly hadn’t been aware of the muggle contraption – what did Feinberg call it? A wheelchair? – that was apparently some sort of transportation for the girl.

Dimly he recalls Lily talking about someone, a boy in her muggle school, who had been injured playing football and was in a wheelchair. He shakes himself and begins the lesson.

-

“Oh my gosh, are you okay Helen?” Luna’s fairly pushed away by a swarm of concerned Hufflepuffs. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. He spoke with me after class when I was packing up – he didn’t apologize but we discussed how to make it safer for me in class, so I think he was just unfamiliar,” Helen says, though there’s still a quiver of anger in her voice. 

Isabelle worms her way through the crowd and puts a careful hand on Helen’s shoulder. “You sure? He was awfully rude.”

Helen shrugs. “Well, he’s a jerk, that’s more than true, but at least he’s not an ableist jerk. It’s sort of like in chemistry class when you get detention if you forget to wear safety glasses. It’s dangerous, so he has to be strict to keep us safe.”

Luna considers and has to agree with the statement. She still doesn’t quite see the purpose of scaring students into submission – when she’s scared, she just tends to go nonverbal and, half the time, unresponsive – but there’s no other logical reason, except maybe that he doesn’t like children. But if he didn’t, why would he be a teacher? 

With a shrug, they carry on. Helen leaves with the Hufflepuff gang, and Luna’s begun calling it, and Roger leads the way to the tower, occasionally skipping steps. “Listen,” he calls over his shoulder between heavy breaths, “I’ve got this really good idea, I need you guys’ help but it’ll be really really really cool.”

When they finally reach the top of the stairs, breathlessly telling the knocker that a heartbeat is a beat without a melody, they collapse into chairs in the common room.  
“Woah, was someone chasing you?” Ethan calls from his spot in one of the comfy chairs.

Roger shakes his head, pulling an inhaler from his bag and struggling to breathe. “No, just a great idea. Had to start researching. Tell me you guys keep spare parchment and quills.”

Ethan wordlessly hands them over with a grin. “I can definitely see why you’re in Ravenclaw,” he mutters, and Roger laughs. He crouches over the paper, scribbling furiously. Luna leaves him be for the moment, moving into her room and relishing the few minutes of silence she has. She writes a note to herself to ask Professor Flitwick how to cast a silencing charm – her earmuffs are already starting to lose the charm since apparently the more noise it has to block out, the faster the charm wears off. After a moment of pure, blessed silence, she adds some hay to Rowan’s enclosure. Once she’s eaten, Luna picks her up and carries her out, cradling the rabbit and feeling immediately calmed.

“Oh good, there you are,” Roger calls, beckoning her over. “Okay, okay, I asked Ethan, and he said we didn’t have one already and he’d love to help us, so I’m so ready to do this. Are you in?”

Luna stared at him for a moment, and then he caught himself. “Oh, right, haven’t told you what it is – I’m thinking of creating a student union to push for disability rights and accommodations at Hogwarts! Since Snape didn’t even know what a wheelchair was it got me thinking that the wizarding world must be so different than the muggle one – I mean, there’s a ton of ableism in the muggle world, but it seems so much worse here!” At this, he paused for breath. “I mean, what’s it like being autistic in the wizarding world?”

Luna blinked at him. The question was obviously meant for her, but she had no idea what he was saying. “Being – what?”

“Autistic. I mean – you are, yeah? My therapy group back at home had a couple autistic kids, and a lot of your behavioural stuff – like you’ve been having trouble with social situations? And Rowan calms you down – I thought she was a service pet. And you stim a lot, same as me – even though I’m ADD.” 

Luna was at a loss, but – there was a word explaining how she was different? She’d thought it was just a family thing- “There are – there are other people like me?” she asked.

Roger looked at her for a moment, stunned. “Well, yeah. Tons. Um, I think I brought a few of my OT worksheets and stuff with me – Jenna - she's my therapist - gave me a ton of stuff when she heard I was going to boarding school. It might have some stuff, I’m not really sure. I’ll write to Mom and Dad and see if they can owl me some books.”

Luna nodded, sitting down. “Can you just, stop talking for a minute and let me the process?”

Roger nodded. “Yeah, yeah, of course.”

After a few moments of companionable silence, wherein Rowan nestled into Luna’s lap and she petted her softly, taking comfort in the softness of Rowan’s fur, Luna spoke. “So, what’s this about a union?”

Roger nodded and started talking. This was going to be an adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Leave a like if you like, or even a comment! They keep me happy and writing :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! Here you are~

It turned out Ravenclaw actually had possibly the highest proportion of muggleborn students in all four houses, and as such had the highest proportion of students with diagnosed disabilities – learning, mental, and physical. 

“You know, I wonder how many undiagnosed kids with learning issues there are,” Roger wonders aloud, playing with his silver – what did he call it? A tangle? – and frowning. Luna shrugs. “I dunno. I think we just always sort of took this stuff for granted, really. You can’t exactly magic the brain, so I guess we never paid attention to it.” 

“I guess. It’s just – I don’t understand how there’s been no research, no comments – nothing.” Roger cut himself off with a sigh. “Whatever. I think Ethan’s bringing the idea to Flitwick-”

“Professor Flitwick,” Luna mutters under her breath.

“Right, yes, sorry. He’s bringing it to Professor Flitwick and then we’ll have a formal meeting with him if he’s interested. Does that sound like an okay plan?” Roger asks. Luna nods, stroking Rowan and remaining quiet. It was easier, sometimes, and they had been doing so much work these past few days, she was running out of energy for other stuff. 

“Alright, I’m so glad!” Roger says with a smile, then glances at the clock. “Shoot, okay, ready for class? Isabelle and Helen went down already – apparently I talked them into incoherency last night.”

Luna grabs her school bag, and reluctantly places Rowan back in her enclosure with some food and one last pet. She joins Roger at the door, and the two made their way in silence to transfiguration. 

Professor McGonagall seems somewhat more upset than usual, and begins the lesson with a speech on tolerance and acceptance. “It is absolutely necessary that all of you remember that every one of the students at this school is equally deserving of being at this school, regardless of anything. We will not tolerate bullying or slander in this school, and I would thank you to remember it. Now, we will be beginning this lesson with a review of the incantation and theory you learned last class, followed by the practical component.”

As they moved into the practical portion of the lesson, Luna tried to keep her head down and remain unnoticed, since she still couldn’t find the energy to speak, but of course that only manages to draw the professor’s attention to her.

“Miss Lovegood, can you please demonstrate what you have achieved so far?” Professor McGonagall asks, her voice kindly, if a little sharp.

Luna nods, and tries with all her might to somehow make her mouth work, or even somehow cast it wordlessly – she knows it can be done – but the matches remain matches. 

Professor McGonagall’s mouth twitches upward. “I hardly think the incantation would work very well without someone to, well, incant it,” she chides. “Though that was indeed excellent wand work. Shall we try again? The incantation is Convertere Acus.”

She tries – she really does, but no words leave her mouth. 

“Miss Lovegood, are you alright?” the Professor asks.

Luna shrugs, then digs out a quill and some parchment. I sometimes lose the energy to speak, it’s not intentional, but it doesn’t harm me, so I pay it no mind. I’m sorry I can’t do the incantation.

Professor McGonagall’s lips purse for a moment, though she doesn’t seem to be mad at Luna. “I see. If you would like to go see Nurse Pomfrey for a Pepperup potion or something of the kind, do feel free. I have had a few students like this in the past.”

Luna nods, grateful that she’s not in trouble. 

“Also, if you should like to see me after class, perhaps when your voice is back, we could have a chat about possibilities to help with your accommodation – there was a boy in Hufflepuff some years back who had some difficulties which, I suspect, are similar to yours.” 

Roger gave her a significant look and a grin from where he sat, twirling his pencil in concentration at his (admittedly quite shiny) matches. 

Luna can’t help but feel somewhat embarrassed over needing the extra help, but she was glad she was able to get it. She was somewhat relieved when they moved on to Potions – at least there was no verbal incantations required. 

She was able to lose herself easily within the simple instructions, and she and Helen quickly completed their task with time to spare. After a high-five and placing their vial of potion on Professor Snape’s desk, they retreated to Roger and Isabelle’s table, exchanging advice and ideas, and planning out their course of action for the meeting with Professor Flitwick they had learned had been scheduled for the day before Halloween. 

Professor Snape didn’t comment on their speaking out of turn, which was determined to be his version of an apology for jumping to conclusions with Helen’s chair, which now had protective coatings on the wheels. 

“See? He’s really not too bad,” Isabelle murmured. “Just stressed – I get the feeling the class before ours has a tendency to explode things.”

Luna laughed before she could help herself, and Isabelle and Helen exchanged a high-five. 

“Hush, you four, or I will be forced to deduct house points,” Professor Snape called from his desk, and the four hushed up, though not without exchanging grins at his somewhat less than menacing voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought!


	7. Quidditch and an Accident

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The new Harry Potter app is actually super fun! Did anyone notice how one of the characters' names is also Rowan? Thought that was a neat thing :)

Chapter 7

As they waited for their meeting with Professor Flitwick, things settled into a comfortable routine. About a week before the first Quidditch game, which Isabelle was looking forward to excitedly. The four of them were walking slowly to the library (no one really wanted to do homework – the interesting material didn’t take away from the monotony of schoolwork) and Isabelle was enthusing about the sport.

“And I heard the Slytherins got a new seeker this year – they’ve got the newest brooms! But Angelina – one of the chasers for Gryffindor – she’s this amazing flyer and just so pretty – er, pretty awesome at catching the quaffle. And scoring. You know. Quidditch. She’s pretty good at Quidditch.”

A laugh sounded from behind them, and Luna whirled to see that gorgeous girl from the train- what was her name? Linny? Oh, right. “Ginny, hi!” Luna said with a grin. “Hey Luna, Helen… I don’t know you two,” Ginny said, squeezing herself in between Roger and Luna. “Sorry to butt in, I just hear the word Quidditch and I’m automatically involved in the conversation. You guys are cheering for Gryffindor, yeah?” she asked with a wink at Luna.

Luna almost tripped on perfectly smooth floor, but managed to get out a brief “Yeah, of course,” before making a complete fool of herself. Luckily, Isabelle saw fit to drag the conversation back to convoluted Quidditch talk until they all five reached the library.

“Okay listen, I’ll save you guys some spots in the Gryffindor box, if you want to come. Almost everyone in my dorm is so boring compared to you guys – it’s like, I’ll be writing in my- I mean, journaling at night, and without me to talk, it’s like they’ve all forgotten how to. It’s not all bad – Ava’s great, and they’re all really nice, but I just don’t get best friend vibes from them.”

As Ginny paused for breath, Isabelle intervened. “We’d love to be there.”

Ginny beamed. “Great! I’ll see you then! Oh shoot – I just forgot about Snape’s essay, he hates Ron so he hates me and if everything’s not perfect he’s just awful. Bye-” and with that, she was gone.

Roger nudged Luna, who had barely managed to keep up with the conversation, stunned as she was by the ginger’s entrance, and murmured, “Someone’s got a cruuuuuuuuuuush~”

Before Luna could react, however, they were in the library and immersed in charms homework.

-

The next day, Luna found herself being dragged over to the box by Isabelle, wearing a scarf that Helen had somehow managed to charm to turn red and gold and wishing she could've brought Rowan along. They made their way through the stand – which, Roger pointed out with a disdainful sniff, definitely had not been designed with accessibility in mind – and somehow managed to make their way to the seats which had been dutifully saved by Ginny.

Luna stood transfixed for a moment, watching her hair whip in the wind and catch glimmers of gold before Helen reached up and poked her hard on her back. “We’re going to miss the match! Stop mooning over her and sit down.”

Luna moved forward, adjusting her earmuffs which had been set, the help of Professor Flitwick and two third-years who wanted extra credit, to drown out the cheering but still allow her to hear her friends’ voices, though much quieter. 

The Slytherin team flew out first, and Ginny was quick to point out her brothers’ enemy, Malfoy, who was the Seeker. “He’s a real git, but apparently a decent flier. Harry’s better, though,” she added with a grin as the Gryffindor team flew out. Angelina did a loop in the air and Ginny wolf-whistled, earning a grin from a few of the people around her. Madame Hooch blew her whistle, and they were off. 

Having never gone to a game without being assaulted by way too much stimuli, Luna had never really understood why everyone liked Quidditch so much. But now that she was protected from the sound and surrounded by her friends, she started to appreciate it. She cheered whenever Gryffindor scored a goal and held her breath whenever a bludger got too close to hitting someone. 

And then she noticed the other bludger, which was doggedly pursuing Harry. She nudged Ginny. “Are the bludgers supposed to follow one player all the time?”

Ginny looked where she was pointing and frowned. “No, not at all. And Fred keeps hitting it and then it goes right back, that’s not normal at all. Something’s wrong with it!”

Luna watched tensely as Harry dodged the bludger, doing all sorts of acrobatics while still looking for the snitch. Once, when it got a little too close, Ginny yelped and grabbed Luna’s hand. Luna froze, but Ginny kept holding on and eventually she decided that it was alright. 

And just as she tried to get up the courage to look at Ginny and see if she even realized what she was doing, she heard a crack and almost threw up when she saw Harry’s arm hanging limply, the other desperately outstretched to get the snitch. “Forget about the snitch,” she murmured worriedly, “Just get help.”

Ginny seemed to agree, given how tightly she was clutching Luna’s hand. And then he caught it, and Fred grabbed the bludger, and George did too and they wrestled it into the case, and professors swarmed the field. 

Ginny was dragging her down the stairs and she saw Helen whipping out her wand and not even bothering to chance the stairs, magicking herself straight to the field using the levitation charm, and Roger was coming too, and Luna was dealing with too many people and too many sounds and it was all too much and then-

And then Ginny was pulling her off to a dark corner, and Luna dimly noticed that her hand had been let go of. Before she could protest the loss, Ginny was giving her a soft hug and murmuring words. “Luna? Are you okay? I’m sorry about all the people and noise, I know that must’ve been a lot for you. I’m sorry.”

Luna shook her head and tried to speak through her panting breaths. “Not your- not your fault. I’m sorry.”

Ginny huffed. “Well, it’s not your fault either, then. What can I do for you right now?”

Luna considered. “Just- stay?”

The other girl gave her faint grin. “That, I can do.” Usually, when she was having this bad a time, she just wanted to be left alone, but Ginny’s touch was grounding her, soothing her, so she moved a little closer. Ginny pulled her in a little tighter and took her hands. “Just breathe, Luna. You’ll be okay.”

After a few long moments, Luna pulled a little away to let her know she was okay. Ginny gave her a soft smile and helped her stand up. “You good?”

Luna smiled. “Yeah. Thank you.”

The two made their way to the field, and Luna saw with anxiety that Harry’s arm was just flopping around weirdly and in directions it shouldn’t. Helen and Roger caught sight of them and ran over, talking over each other. “His arm was broken-”

“Lockhart did something-”

“No bones in his arm!”

Helen looked especially worried. “It would be an incredibly risky operation, and I’m not sure they could even make completely steel bones. Especially if the marrow’s missing, there’d be issues with making blood… oh god, will he even live?”

Professor McGonagall had apparently overheard them. “He will definitely survive. Madam Pomfrey has several bottles of Skele-Gro for use in the Hospital Wing.”

Helen gaped at her. “I’m sorry – you have a potion that can regrow bones?”

“Well, yes. It’s a hazard, especially for those aiming to become healers, that a spell can go awry in the oddest ways,” Professor McGonagall said, clearly a little uncomfortable.

Roger turned to Professor McGonagall, eyes suddenly alight. “Wait. Could she get Helen out of the wheelchair?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. This is a question my mom and best friend both brought up, about magic being able to heal various disabilities - a lot of that will be addressed in the next chapter. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Let me know how you enjoyed the chapter!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! You may have noticed by now that some events are a little out of order - this is partially because I haven't read the Chamber of Secrets for a long time, and partially because events happen to work slightly better for the purposes of this fic if things are a little out of order. Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 8

Professor McGonagall turned to Roger, surprise and discomfort in every feature of her face. “Um, well- I’m honestly not sure. This isn’t really a common issue, I suppose-”

Helen rolled a little forward and cleared her throat to gain their attention. “It doesn’t matter – I wouldn’t go through with it.” After a beat, she added- “Not only is this just, what I’m used to now, my disability is really a part of me that I wouldn’t want to part with. It lets me experience the world in a different way, yes, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

Realization dawned on Roger’s face – “It’s like how even if there was a cure for ADD – which there isn’t really, just meds – I wouldn’t go for it. I’m sorry for bringing it up- it was insensitive.”

“Nah, it’s okay – at least we straightened it out.” Helen waved him off.

McGonagall whisked off Harry and Ginny’s brother immediately tore off after them, though the girl Ginny had been with on the train – Hermione? Yeah, Hermione – smiled at the rest of them. “Thank you guys.”

Roger nudged Helen, who nudged Isabelle, who nudged Luna, who nudged Ginny, who luckily got the message and then glared at the rest for making her do it. “Hey, um, we’re going to see Professor Flitwick tomorrow about the possibility of creating a group to basically like, make more people at Hogwarts aware of disability and accommodations?”

Roger, a bit less shy now that they were on firmer ground and Hermione wasn’t storming off, broke in. “We’re calling it the DRAH – disability rights and accommodations at Hogwarts. And we’ve got our prefect on board, but not many others, and Ginny said that you’re a great speaker and stuff and we were really hoping that you’d help us maybe please?” At the end of his spiel, he took a deep inhale, seemingly having forgotten to breathe.

Hermione couldn’t help but smile. “I would love to. I mean, I’m autistic myself, and I’ve noticed how few things are in place at Hogwarts to help students with disability. Honestly, I’ve never understood it – despite having extremely advanced abilities, half of the wizarding world is so stuck in old ways. I mean seriously – quills and parchment? Gorgeous, yes, but much less convenient than paper and a good ballpoint pen. And-” she paused. “I’m sorry, I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

Isabelle smiled. “You are, but it’s totally cool. We’re meeting with Professor Flitwick in – it’s actually tomorrow, isn’t it? Cool. Yeah, tomorrow, so we’ll let you know how it goes!”

Hermione nodded. “Excellent. Now, I should probably check on Harry – and besides, I’m really curious as to what the Skele-Gro is – so I’ve got to go. Good luck you guys!” And with that, she was off.

Isabelle clapped her hands excitedly. “Yay! Another person on our side!”

-

The next day was a mess of everyone trying to get ready for their meeting with Professor Flitwick. Helen had met up with Anthony Goldstein, who had explained that there wasn’t a synagogue in Hogsmeade, and there weren’t enough Jewish people of age in Hogwarts to establish a quorum. Instead, Professor Dumbledore had arranged them floo transport to the nearest muggle village every Sabbath, and while it wasn’t ideal, it was better than Helen had expected. The meeting with Flitwick had been arranged for an hour after her service, something that Helen was immensely grateful for.

Once they’d all assembled, with pressed clothes – it was Saturday, so no uniforms – and tidied hair. Isabelle had tucked up her dark coiled hair into a silken scarf, and her dark skin seemed to glow under her smile, nervous though it was. Roger looked uncomfortable in his slightly baggy clothing, and kept running his hands through his hair and tugging it, as though trying to make it longer. This was made rather more difficult, given that he was carrying a rather large binder. Luna had brought Rowan, as they had also planned to ask if Rowan could be certified as a service animal and could be allowed to accompany Luna to classes.

 “Alright, ready everyone?” Evan asked, and then knocked.

Professor Flitwick opened the door and ushered them in, smiling. “Welcome, welcome. Mr. Ademola mentioned you had a proposition for a club?”

Roger dropped the binder on the desk. “Yeah! Okay, so-” he stopped and took a breath, remembering to slow down, and tried again. “Alright, so we noticed, in our month, that Hogwarts seemed to be rather ill-equipped to handle students with physical or mental disabilities. So, we spoke with Prefect Ademola, and he suggested that we bring the matter to you.”

Luna had rehearsed the script for her part multiple times, and continued, “We decided that the best way to combat the root of the problem – ignorance in both wizarding society and students in general – would be to create a voluntary club for students with disabilities, as well as allies.”

Then it was Helen’s turn. “We hope to host several educational events throughout the year, and serve as a union to protect and stand for disabled individuals. We’ve done our research, and have a tentative yearly plan and dates for presentations, with outlines as to what we’d be speaking about.” The entire binder was courtesy of Roger, who had hyper-fixated on the club and managed to hyper-focus on developing plans for almost twelve hours straight, barely remembering to eat.

Professor Flitwick nodded, leaning back. “So, you just need a Professor to sign off on it? I have no objections, though I would love to read through all you have to say.”

Luna and Isabelle exchanged delighted grins. That had been easier than expected. Roger slid the binder forward, and Professor Flitwick smiled at them. “Is that all?”

Luna shook her head, then stepped forward nervously. “I did have a request, Professor.”

“What is it, Miss Lovegood?” Professor Flitwick asked kindly, voice softening as he looked at his student clutching her rabbit familiar.

“I, um,” she stopped, nervous, petting Rowan, who sensed her nervousness and burrowed closer into her. After a moment, she started again, knowing that Professor Flitwick was always very patient with her even when she was nonverbal. “I talked to Roger, earlier, and he was telling me about a muggle concept called service animals – animals that help their humans adjust better to various scenarios, especially ones with disabilities. There are even autism service animals – namely dogs, but some others as well. Rowan meets the qualifications really well, and I was wondering if we could have her certified? If she were my service animal, that means she’d have specific jobs, like calming me down, alerting someone who can help if I’m having a shutdown, or meltdown, or something. Admittedly, it’s a little harder because she’s a rabbit, and not a dog or another, louder, animal, but if we can make sure the staff is involved with her training and understands, then I think it could work really well.” Finished her small speech, she glanced up at Professor Flitwick, anxiety alight in her eyes.

He leaned back, thinking hard. “Well, Miss Lovegood, I think this could be done.”

“Really? Thank you so much!” Luna said, twirling happily and hands starting to flap a little.

Flitwick smiled. “I think you might like to talk to Hagrid about this – he’s the keeper of the grounds and handles many of our magical creatures, as you will find out in a few years, no doubt, and I think he’d be quite intrigued by this notion, and more than willing to help train. Perhaps Professor McGonagall could also help, given her experience working with animals in her process of becoming an Animagus. And, of course, I’d love to help.”

Luna smiled. “Thank you, Professor!”

The Professor just waved her off. Before they could really say anything else, though, a student Luna vaguely recognized as one of the prefects from Gryffindor burst through the door. “Professor – come quick – there’s been an attack.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What'd you think? Love it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Leave a kudos and/or a comment and let me know!


	9. Meltdown.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ginny is missing. Luna is scared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A note: Luna has a meltdown in this chapter and some of her symptoms are those of self-injurious stims. If that's difficult for you to read for any reason, please don't feel obligated to read this chapter - I'll put a quick summary at the bottom for you! Thank you all so much for your continued support; this story could not be written without all of you.

Chapter 9

Professor Flitwick was quick to leap from his chair. “Mr Weasley, thank you for your quick actions. Please look after these students while I go with the other teachers to see what has occurred. Mr Weasley, where do I need to go?”

The boy, who Luna realized had the same shock of bright red hair as Ginny, nodded resolutely in his task. “Near the dungeons, close to Myrtle’s bathroom.”

Professor Flitwick nodded and exited the room quickly, murmuring under his breath, wand in hand. Luna did a quick head count and noticed – “Didn’t Ginny say she was coming the meeting with us?”

Everyone collectively paled, the prefect noticeably so. “She seemed kind of… I dunno, off this morning? Kind of dreamy. I thought she looked sick and told her to stay in bed, but she wasn’t in the common room and one of the girls in her dorm said she was gone. We should inform a-”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence. Luna was midway through the beginning of a panic attack, but she’d hardly noticed because she’d grabbed Roger, gestured for him to grab Helen’s chair, and they were tearing off, Isabelle behind them.

“Dungeons, bottom floor. We can use the platforms they’re fast,” Helen spoke, the leader of the group now because she was the only one not out of breath. She half-shouted directions until they wound up at the stairs, and Hogwarts, apparently noticing their need, already had a platform waiting for them. They crowded onto the sheet and it dropped them almost straight down to the correct floor. They bolted for the dungeons, and relaxed almost immediately when they saw the small gaggle of teachers clustered around a wall.

Luna noticed Mrs. Norris’ limp body and immediately clutched Rowan tighter, burying her head in the soft fur. Roger seemed to have noticed her heartbeat, and squeezed her hand gently. “Hey, breathe. It’s okay.”

Luna noticed Hermione sitting off to one side, flapping her ands in agitation and looking almost sick. She slowly went over to her. “Did you guys… I mean…”

Hermione looked up and nodded bleakly. “Y-yeah. Harry said he heard a voice and we followed it and- god it’s _awful_.”

Luna tried to focus on her breathing, running her fingers through Rowan’s fur. Rowan, meantime, was burrowing even further into her scarf, nuzzling her neck in feeling her heartbeat. She steeled herself, then asked, “Was Ginny with you? Did you see her? Was she like, like Mrs. Norris?”

Hermione glanced up, shaking her head quickly. “No, no, as far as I know she’s still in the common room. I think Professor Sinistra sent the other prefects on a sweep of the castle to find any stray students and send them to the common rooms – I’ll look in on her room and ask Professor McGonagall to let you know if she’s there, if you want?”

Luna nodded quickly, tension quickly draining out of her shoulders. “Alright, thank you. _Please_ be fast.”

-

The next few hours were something of a blur. Luna stopped talking – she was so stressed and so worried, and though she managed to communicate well enough to get everyone to leave her alone, she wouldn’t stop pacing and frantically writing things down. The minutes clicked down until sometime around eight, when a game of wizard’s chess got a little too loud and the small congregation of students playing exploding snap let out a resounding cheer that their team had won when she lost it entirely.

Meltdowns were never fun. She usually managed to tamp it down or repress it a bit, and her father was usually present to make things safer. Today, she wasn’t as lucky. She burst into tears, which felt odd because she hadn’t thought she was that close to crying, she didn’t think she was sad per se. And it felt _awful_ because it was sticky and wet and _wrong_ and everything was and there was too much noise, too many people, and it was bad. It was all Bad, Bad, Bad, and she wanted it all just to _stop_ but it wouldn’t stop!

She’d already been biting her nails, a bad habit she’d picked up from her mother, but now she was just biting her hand, trying to distract and trying to remember that things would be fine but _they weren’t_.

Dimly she noticed more words, and a small crowd around her. She stepped back and hit the wall and someone was coming towards her and she tried to bat it away. A strangled noise hit the back of her throat, not a scream but not a word, just an expression of fear and anxiety and pain and she was bleeding now and that felt bad too and there were too many people and _why couldn’t they just leave._ She thought it would never end. And then things went black.

-

Luna noticed that the people were gone, and it was quiet and the lights were off. She took a breath. She wanted to fall asleep right there on the floor, but something told her that that wasn’t a good idea. Slowly, she uncurled herself from the floor and cautiously stood, humming her mom’s old lullaby under her breath.

Some moments later, she noticed Prefect Samantha approach her cautiously. “Hey Luna.” She was speaking in a soft, almost hesitant voice, and Luna felt a bit guilty, as though she’d done something wrong. But she knew that wasn’t true because her father had always told her that melting down wasn’t wrong. It just hurt and sucked but they would get through it. She looked up as Samantha continued. “I just wanted to let you know that Professor McGonagall Ginny is perfectly safe, but she’s a bit sick so she’s in the hospital wing right now recovering from a slight flu. She’s perfectly okay.”

Luna breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, signing a quick _thank you_.

Samantha gave a soft smile. “I brought you some food and water – McGonagall spoke with Miss Granger after she heard about your condition, she told us steps to follow and gave us recommendations as to what to do as you recover. She’s a planner, that one.”

Gingerly, Samantha placed a small glass of water and a plate with a few biscuits on a table. Luna gratefully sat down and sipped at the water. Samantha stayed with her for a few hours, until Luna managed to finally fall asleep on the couch.

Luna later learned that Samantha had floated her up to her bed, and that Helen and Isabelle had refused to fall asleep until they knew that their friend was safe from harm.

-

Professor Flitwick excused her from the classes for the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary: The gang realizes that Ginny is missing. Luna panics. No one really notices that she's doing any worse than expected, and her anxiety and stress builds until a combination of those emotions and some bad stimuli from the Ravenclaw common room sets off a meltdown. Everyone reacts horribly, making it worse, and Luna winds up fainting. She wakes up a little while later, learning that Ginny's fine and just running a bit of a flu and that eventually, the prefects managed to calm everyone down. Once Luna properly falls asleep, one of the prefects takes her to the dorms, where her friends are waiting for her. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! Liked it? Loved it? Want to take your computer and throw it against a wall? Let me know in the comments, or with a kudos. I really appreciate everything you send.


	10. Emergency Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's baaaack? Sorry for disappearing for an entire month, I was part of a French language experience thing that lasted for five weeks, and I realized too late that I forgot to actually let y'all know about it. That's on me, and I'm so sorry. Hopefully, this will make up for a bit of all that, but feel free to yell at me in a review. I deserve it tbh.

Chapter 10

A small group was gathered in an empty classroom – Roger had decided to call an emergency meeting of DRAH, and even though it was study hall and more than half of them had tests to prepare for, everyone had come. That meant all four founding Ravenclaws, plus six more that they had managed to convince to show up,  Hermione had dragged Ginny’s youngest brother – Ron? – even though Harry had been busy, and Ginny had brought her dormmates, a few Hufflepuffs, and even two Slytherins that Luna didn’t recognize, had all arrived.

Ginny, beside her, did a quick headcount and whistled under her breath. “Bloody brilliant – 22 of us already!” Luna smiled in appreciation – she’d stayed nonverbal since her meltdown last week, but people had largely been accommodating, and Helen hadn’t hesitated to verbally beat down anyone who tried to tease her about it.

Roger cleared his throat and slowly, conversation stopped. “Hey, um, thank you guys for coming, it means a lot. So today’s meeting is really two things – one, Hermione realized how completely disorganized this club is, so we really need to figure that out, and two, I wanted us to be able to like, put together and show the teachers a bit of a… what do you call it? Like a handbook or something on like, how to handle things and help us out with stuff, like, getting wheel lockers for practicing spells with a kickback effect or how to deal with a meltdown because we all saw how well _that_ went.” He stopped with a sympathetic look for Luna and she looked down, blushing furiously. “But, uh, yeah. Organization. That’s a thing. Um.” He stopped again, and gestured at Hermione, “ _help?_ ” he asked.

Hermione laughed and nodded. “Yeah, so I thought it would be easier on all of us if we could have different branches, that way we don’t have to talk about a million different things, and we can even have smaller meetings if we want to talk about things specific to our issue. Like, we can have a group – probably one from each house? – for recruitment or just telling people about the club, another group as a teacher/student liaison, other groups for dealing with issues specifically related to them – for example ADD or dyslexia or autism or mental health disorders like depression and anxiety.”

Most seemed to be nodding along. One of the two Slytherins – dark haired with fine features – asked, “What about the possibility of other minority groups? We could stand to educate the staff on gender and sexuality – Snape freaked the fuck out when on the first week my bed reappeared in the girls’ dorms, and two months later reappeared in the guys’ dorms. By the way, currently using he/him. Not to mention when an entire extra dorm showed up when Fae got sorted,” he added, gesturing the small fiery red-head sitting beside them.

Hermione almost seemed to glow. “That would be absolutely excellent – not sure it should be a branch of this club because like, obviously being gay or transgender or – oh _dang_ it I know this, I read it in a book just a few weeks ago – gender…”

Blaise smirked, but it seemed almost friendly, in a way. “Genderfluid.”

“Yes! Genderfluid. Or any of that, it’s not a disability at all. But we definitely need to bring that up as well and we have to take names – confidential, of course – because of course there’s still so many closed minded people, and bring it up, probably with one of the younger teachers? Professor Sinistra, maybe?” She stopped then, slightly out of breath, but clearly excited.

Ginny whispered, “Would you go to that?”

Luna thought for a moment, then nodded. She was pretty sure she leaned towards girls, though her only real input from that was her apparent crush on Ginny, and she would definitely appreciate the opportunity to learn more about things related to that. Ginny’s shoulders seemed to relax slightly, and Luna caught a slight smile on her face.

Hermione cleared her throat, and the mutterings mostly stopped. “But yes, that would be very interesting, but not related to this club, and should be discussed later – Friday, maybe, after dinner in this classroom? Anyway, organization.”

The next half hour was spent as people pooled their interests, expertise, experience, and talents to decide where they would be best suited. Hermione had assigned herself as secretary, Roger took over as a sort of de facto leader/coordinator, if only for the sake of him being the one who had come up with the idea, and Luna, Helen, and Isabelle had split up the other branches. Luna had taken mental disabilities, Helen, physical disabilities, and Isabelle had taken up the mantle of mental health disorders, saying “Well, I did a lot of research when my dad passed, and I think I know a bit, even though there’s really not much on the wizarding side of things. And besides, I’ve been incredibly anxious since I was little, and went into a pretty deep depression after that, so I think I’ve got some experience.”

Ginny had immediately tackled her with a sympathy hug, and they couldn’t help but laugh.

After a few moments, they disengaged from their small huddle, and wandered over to where Hermione and Fae, the other Slytherin, were talking. “… I can imagine that must’ve been really difficult,” Hermione was saying. “Are most Slytherins as judgemental towards LGB people as they are towards muggleborns?”

Fae shrugged. “It’s not awful, but there was some initial ostracism when my dorm got created. But Slytherins never fight in public, since everyone hates us so much, we can’t seem anything less but perfectly united. It… it sort of forces you to at least tolerate everyone.”

Hermione nodded, head seemingly going at a mile a minute. “Has there ever been a muggleborn Slytherin? Oh, and before I forget, what are your pronouns?”

Fae smiled. “I tend to use they whenever I can, and I prefer that, but if you’re ever in a place with people you don’t trust or who are bigoted fools, I’m petite enough that the default is she.” They paused, thinking. “As for a muggleborn Slytherin – I don’t know. If there ever was, they probably kept it a secret because of our reputation. And really, it’s not that bad, there’s just an unfortunate outspoken amount of people that influence a lot of people negatively – and honestly, so many people have been demonizing us that a lot of folks just went ‘fuck it’ and decided to be as awful as everyone else was making them out to be.”

“Well, I’ll do my best to work on that with you and Blaise,” Hermione said sincerely.

Feeling slightly bad for eavesdropping, Luna tugged on Ginny’s wrist and led her away, signing with her other hand for ‘food,’ since Ginny had promised to show her where the kitchens were. And with that, the meeting was at an end.


	11. Horse Therapy and Missing Shoes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, guess who's back!! Special thanks to witchpieceoftoast who commented so kindly on several chapters and reminded me that just because something hasn't been touched in a while, doesn't mean it has to end. This chapter's a bit short, but I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. I'm sorry I've been gone so long, and I'll try to get back into it!!

Chapter Eleven

The term sped by from there. Roger worked with some of the older students to make and distribute pamphlets to give teachers a basic understanding of disabilities and disorders, and how to accommodate them. It was almost entirely well received, and everyone was surprised when Professor Snape arrived and announced that he had been appointed the official delegate for the teachers. “It has come to my attention,” he said, with a grimace towards Helen, “that, perhaps, some students require more aid than… certain individuals… have afforded them. This _error_ is most grievous, and so the teachers have… _elected_ … to have me represent them during meetings.”

Hermione, Luna noticed, developed a mischievous sparkle in her eye. Two days later, the Professor was growling about thieves, and Hermione had missed the first DRAH meeting ever.

-

Luna had managed to find her voice again, mainly due to Rowan being able to come with her everywhere. She worked with Hagrid every Friday, and during breaks, Hagrid brought her to visit the thestrals, dark winged horses that were carnivorous and beautiful. “Mighty misunderstood creatures, thestrals are,” Hagrid told her, looking at them with awe. “Not many children can see them, but when they can, it’s a good way to let the teachers know that they got to look out for ‘em.”

Luna nodded, holding out a large steak for a thestral, who snapped it up with a whinny. She raised a hand and stroked its muzzle gently. It nickered and pushed its head closer into her palm, and she laughed. “You’re a real sweetheart, aren’t you?” Hagrid, unseen by Luna, smiled and made a note to thank Hermione for the pamphlet on horse therapy.

Luna tried to bring Ginny to visit the thestrals, but she didn’t stay long, somewhat creeped out by the meat being devoured by something that didn’t seem to be there. Instead, they visited the Black Lake, savouring the last few days of fall and splashing each other. Luna dared Ginny to try and summon the giant squid, which was rumoured (and, in Luna’s mind, proven) to be hyper-intelligent, even for a squid. It didn’t work.

Things developed into a routine, and soon, the snow fell, leaving everything hushed and sparkling. Winter was Luna’s favourite season, and she was eager to introduce Rowan to the snow. Rowan was not amused. When her paws hit the ground she jumped up higher than she ever had before in shock, and Luna couldn’t help but laugh and tuck her back inside her scarf. “Too cold? It’s okay, a lot of people don’t like the cold either.”

It was around that first snowfall, though, that all of Luna’ shoes went missing. Helen and Isabelle helped her comb their dorm, and Roger checked the common room, but they seemed to have just vanished. Isabelle tried to loan Luna hers, but the different shoes just weren’t the right material, and they didn’t fit right and just weren’t good for dealing with her sensory problems, so she resolved to going sock-footed everywhere she went. She researched anti-theft charms, but they were apparently incredibly difficult to do, and even more expensive to buy, and she really didn’t want to bother Professor Flitwick more than she already had, and the Quibbler hadn’t been selling well as of late, so asking her father was another non-option.

Xenophilius had always told her to ignore the bullies anyway, and she’d taken it as a rule. So that was what she did. She held her head high and tried to ignore the snickers and the taunt of “Loony Lovegood,” which someone had started post-meltdown and had stuck.

A few of the Hufflepuff gang – Helen’s friends, mostly – declared themselves “The Justice League” (which was apparently a reference to a muggle thing) and launched a search to find her shoes (and headbands, which had now disappeared as well) and report anyone who teased her or anyone else. A fourth-year named Cedric told her that Professor Sprout had asked him to oversee the group. “She’s hinted that I might be prefect next year, and then I’ll be able to give detentions, even,” he told her with a sly grin. Luna blushed, but felt her heart sink at the implication that there would still be bullies next year.

Her heart lifted, however, when Roger announced the topic of their first presentation for DRAH: _Defeating Stigma in the Wizarding World._ Snape had suggested using the final classes of the final day of school, since teachers weren’t likely to be teaching anything new, and it would give them something to think on for break. They latched onto the idea, got permission from Professor Dumbledore to present in Great Hall and excuse all students for the two periods, giving them a full two hours to present, even though, really, it was closer to an hour and a half.

With the permissions in place, they began to plan. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? Comments? Concerns? Want to throw a chair at me for abandoning the fic for so long? Leave a comment and a kudos, or feel free to send assassins. Whatever you prefer.


	12. Confidence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The calm before the storm.

Chapter Twelve

Luna was having trouble with words again. She’d made School Words into a separate category that she could almost always access, and the worksheets that Roger had finally gotten from his therapist were helpful, if a bit confusing for its muggle terms. They at least helped her try and work through the more confusing emotions, especially when she started comparing them to the creatures that had been her and her father’s code.

Her routine had still been disrupted, though, by the continued disappearance of her items. Ethan, the prefect who had helped so much with the instatement of DRA before disappearing because the homework assigned in OWL year was too much to allow for any sort of social life, caught wind of the problem when Luna was given her first detention ever, for being out of uniform, courtesy of Professor McGonagall when they had been practicing turning needles into other sharp objects and Luna had popped up onto her chair instead of risking a fallen needle stabbing her foot.

She’d been too busy panicking to tell the Professor why exactly she wasn’t wearing any shoes, and she’d spent the rest of the day in a wrackspurt-induced haze. Roger dug out the copy of the translation between creatures and emotions Luna had started keeping, and eventually realized that she was dealing with the aftermath of a particularly severe anxiety attack. He did the first thing he could think of that made sense and blurted the entire situation to the first sympathetic prefect he found.

Ethan, filled with righteous anger, had run off to go chew out the Professor for the detention but stopped. “Wait. You’re saying someone _took_ all her shoes?” Roger nodded, face pale and fists clenched. Ethan swore. “Damn, thought it was only Slytherins. I’ll go deal with McGonagall, and we’ll work on the bullying situation later.”

Professor McGonagall had retracted Luna’s detention and instead spent a full hour of class time detailing the punishments bullies would face in Hogwarts, with a strong emphasis on House Unity and Inter-House Solidarity. She spent the second hour detailing the punishments for stealing, and thoroughly terrified the first years.

Her shoes came back (anonymously) the next day in perfect condition, but her headbands had all been shrunk slightly and gave her terrible migraines. The Loony Lovegood taunts lessened, but she could still hear it hissed at her in corridors.

Few noticed the guilty looks Minerva sent across the table to Professor Snape for the next few days. No one, that is, except a particular observant bunch of Ravenclaws and their Gryffindor friends. The next weekend, no one except Dumbledore knew that Minerva had disappeared for the morning to visit the Potters’ grave and chew out James Potter for being a complete git to Severus Snape. Everyone knew, though, that Professor Minerva McGonagall had spent the following afternoon buying out the nearest Claires’ collection of headbands. She sent them by owl mail with a short note explaining that she had no idea which one would feel best for her, and would she please feel free to wear any of them, even if they aren’t really dress-code appropriate.

Luna took to wearing the tiara. She claimed it was a nod to Rowena Ravenclaw’s lost diadem, but really, it just made her feel powerful. And power, she realized, was something she could have. She just needed a _word_ for the ones who had made her feel so small. Bully didn’t feel strong enough, because it felt like so much more than a childlike spat. After intense discussion with Hagrid during one of Rowan’s training discussions, she decided on nargles. A nargle was supposed to be a creature that got into your ears and made your brain go all fuzzy and could cause you to act in odd ways. A nargle in her terms, though, was a person who made comments or did things that made her feel upset, and did those things all the time.

When she had _words_ for it, everything felt better, somehow. She wrote to her father and asked to visit a therapist. She had to explain the concept to him, but once he understood, he started searching. Two weeks later he had found a counsellor, a muggle woman who had married a witch (and had to disappear into the wizarding world, since same-sex marriage wasn’t legal in the muggle world yet) and started a small practice. She specialized in PTSD, he said, which made sense because of how many people had fought in the second wizarding war, but he had spoken to her and she was more than willing to make an exception. She’d always wanted to work with children, he said. They made an appointment for precisely five days after Luna was scheduled to go home.

She was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter, I know, but I think it was important to write. Next chapter features duelling, petrifications, and, of course, our darling basilisk. If you're lucky, I'll throw in some very-early-Linny-fluff. 
> 
> I'm thinking of doing some one-shots of slightly-different Harry Potter universes, in a more stream-of-consciousness style similar to this chapter, because in writing this universe, I'm noticing the sheer impact small decisions and changes can have on the story as a whole. Is that something y'all would like to see? Let me know!! I'm hoping to get into more writing because it's really a form of self-care, and I'd love to provide content that y'all really enjoy because I like making you guys happy!
> 
>  
> 
> Also!!! Two weeks from now is my school's disability rights campaign and I am VERY excited. In preparation, I've been brushing up on my ASL and realizing I've lost a lot of it - does anyone have any good resources for learning ASL? I'd be super grateful if you could send me a link.

**Author's Note:**

> Liked it? Loved it? Hated it? Let me know with a kudos or a comment (or both! Whatever floats your boat).


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